Access providers have proven susceptible to various attacks by computer hackers. In a type of computer attack known as a denial of service attack, a hacker attempts to deny service to legitimate users of online computer services. For instance, a hacker may send a high number of illegitimate access requests to an accessible computer system of an access provider (hereinafter access provider), causing the access provider to dedicate its resources to handling the illegitimate access requests rather than handling legitimate access requests from legitimate users. In this manner, legitimate users may be denied access to an online computer service enabled by the access provider because of the influx of illegitimate access requests sent by the hacker. This type of attack is commonly known as a synchronize (SYN) flood.
Another type of a computer attack occurs when a hacker attempts to gain unauthorized access to an online computer service through an access provider. In this type of attack, the hacker uses a client to attempt to establish an unauthorized connection with the access provider. For instance, the hacker begins by identifying a logon identification known to be valid. The hacker then attempts to crack the password associated with the valid logon identification. For instance, the hacker may use a computer program to associate several passwords with the logon identification in rapid succession, repeatedly attempting to establish a connection with the access provider using the known logon identification and one of the associated passwords. This type of attack may tax processing resources to effectively deny legitimate users access to the online computer service.
When subject to such attacks, access providers may be forced to cease operation.